MOBILE AND STATIONARY SCHOOL STRATEGIES FOR EDUCATING NOMADIC PASTORALISTS AND MIGRANT FISHERMEN:
THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE
BY
ARDO ALIYU ALHAJI
A PAPER PREPARED FOR THE IEC/DFID VIRTUAL CONFERENCE DISCUSSING EDUCATION FOR NOMADS AND PASTORALIST WITH FOCUS TO NIGERIA 20TH NOVEMBER, 2001.
MOBILE AND STATIONARY SCHOOL STRATEGIES FOR EDUCATING NOMADIC PASTORALISTS AND MIGRANT FISHERMEN:
THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE
INTRODUCTION
Providing equitable access to education in Nigeria and other developing countries of the world in the last three decades despite remarkable strides in educational expansion has uptill date remained an unrealised dream. Many children of socially disadvantage group like nomadic pastoralists and migrant fishermen have had little or no access to basic education.
It is in realisation of this that the Federal Government of Nigeria in 1990 established National Commission for Nomadic Education to design and implement primary basic education for children of nomadic groups in Nigeria through its Nomadic Education Programme.
THE PROGRAMME AND ITS IMPLEMENTATION AGENCY
The Nomadic Education Programme took off in 1990 with the following aims:
1. integrate the nomads into the main stream society through the provision of relevant and functional basic education; and
2. improve the survival skills of the nomads through the dissemination of modern techniques of animal husbandry for the nomadic pastoralists and fishing for migrant fishing communities (Tahir 1998). , ...
The implementing agency established by law Act 41 of 1999 had the following as its functions amongst others:
1. formulate policies and issue guidelines on all matters relating to nomadic education in Nigeria;
2. disburse funds for programme implementation;
2. determine standards to be attained in nomadic education;
4. monitor and evaluate the activities of agencies concerned with nomadic education;
5. establish, manage and maintain primary schools in the settlements carved out for nomadic peoples.
The Commission in providing education to nomads in the country caters for two major groups of nomads, namely: the pastoralists and the migrant fishermen. The pastoral nomads are made up of the Fulbe (5.3m), the Shuwa (1.0m), the Koyam (32,000), the Badawi (20,000), the Buduma (10,000) and the Dark Buzzu (15,000). The Fulbe are found in 31 of the 36 states in the country while the others are principally located in Borno plains including Yobe and shores of Lake Chad. The migrant fishing groups are mainly found in the coastline of the Atlantic, the riverine areas and the river basins in the hinterland (Tahir 1998).
Out of the estimated 10 million nomadic peoples in the country, 3.6 million are children of school-going age. Participation of the nomads in existing formal education programmes is alarmingly low, which explains a literacy rate of 0.2% in 1995 for pastoralists and 2.0% for migrant fishermen (Tahir 1998).
The major constraints to their participation in formal and non-formal education are:
i. Their migratory movements in search of water and pasture,
ii. The centrality of child labour in their production system,
iii. The irrelevance of the school curiculum which is tailored to meet the educational needs of sedentary groups; and
iv. Their physical isolation since they operate in mostly inaccessible physical environments (Government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999).
This therefore explains why a special educational provision is made for the nomads, since they have had little or no access to formal and non-formal education. It is the wisdom of Government that Nomadic Education Programme is designed to provide an unfettered access to education for nomadic groups in Nigeria.
As at September 2000, there were 1,494 nomadic primary schools located in 35 states of the country. Out of this, 1,154 schools are for nomadic pastoralists, while 340 schools are for migrant fishermen. Total pupils enrolment in the schools was193,249. Total number of teachers as at 2000 was 4,748. Since the inception of the programme, about 26,452 pupils have successfully graduated from the nomadic school system. This is made up of 16,388 boys and 10,064 girls, which represent 61% and 39% respectively (NCNE, 2001).
PLANNING AND IMPLEMENTATION
To ensure achievement of its objectives, government established four University-Based Centres as part of the initial planning in the implementation of Nomadic Education Programme, The functions of the Centres were clearly articulated in Act 41 of 1989 which established the Commission and the Commission’s "Guideline on the Operation of Nomadic Education in Nigeria", (NCNE 1996). The Centres and their functions are as follows:
i. University of Jos for Research and Evaluation;
ii. Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto .for curriculum and materials development;
iii. University of Maiduguri for Teacher Training and Outreach; and
iv. University of Port Harcourt for Research, Training and Curriculum Development for Migrant Fishermen.
To provide relevant and an appropriate education to nomads, part of the planning process included the conduct of researches to generate baseline data for adequate planning. This process would help in the articulation and adoption of viable strategies to ensure success at implementation. The University of Jos conducted three studies that focussed on generating data in respect of the population; life styles, occupational roles, locations, duration of stay in the location, prevailing migratory and camping practices and the possibility of any educational provisions and their related success factors . The studies are:
i. A Statistical Survey of Pastoral Nomads in the ten Northern States of Nigeria in 1987;
ii. A Statistical Survey of Nomads in the Southern States of Nigeria in 1995; and
iii. A Statistical Survey of Nomads in the Lake Chad Shores in 1997.
Similar studies were conducted in Edo, Delta, Rivers, Ogun, Ondo and Akwa Ibom states for migrant fishermen. These studies were done by the state universities in the respective states between 1992 and 1994. These studies served as major insights for proper planning and design of nomadic education programme with apt strategies for mobile groups in the country.
As a result of findings from the various studies carried out by University of Jos, the Commission in conjunction with Usmanu Dan Fodio University Sokoto completed the development and adaptation of curricula and pupil texts in English, Mathematics, Social Studies, Primary Science, Health Education, Handicraft, Islamic Religion and Fulfulde. These materials are for the education of the children of pastoral nomads.
Furthemore, Curricula Guides and pupils’ text have been developed for children of migrant fishermen. These are in the four core subjects of English, Mathematics, Social Studies and Primary Science. The development and adaptation of the materials have been premised on the outcome of respective the studies conducted. All these are to ensure that materials so developed meet national standards and conform to the socio-cultural life of the nomadic groups.
As part of its planning to ensure proper delivery of relevant education to the nomadic groups, using developed curriculum, the Commission in close collaboration with University of Maiduguri Centre and the Centre at University of Port Harcourt, organised series of workshops for training of teachers and head-teachers. In view of the importance of teachers in the delivery of education programmes, the Commission furthermore entered into partnership with states and donors like UNICEF and DFID to hold regular training workshops for teachers.
THE USE OF MOBILE AND FIXED SCHOOL STRATEGIES IN THE DELIVERY OF EDUCATION TO NOMADS.
Based on the outcome of the various studies conducted which provided significant baseline data in the areas of population, socio-cultural and occupational activities, lifestyles, migrations and patterns of dispersal, the Commission evolved strategies for proper delivery of education to nomadic groups in the country. These strategies are flexible for teaching and learning and are hinged on the concrete realities and lifestyles of nomads. As nomads are at various stages of settlement, the mobile as well as the stationary strategies are used in reaching them with education.
The strategies adopted under mobile and stationary schools are namely:
Mobile:
Under this, there are three category of strategies which entail; collapsible classrooms, motorized boat schools and mobile teacher school.
Collapsible Classroom:
This type of mobile school was pilot tested in 1991/92 in Kukawa Local Government areas of Borno State for nomadic pastoralists as part of effort in evolving strategies for the delivery of education. These structures were meant for the highly mobile pastoral groups. The structure could be easily dismantled and carried on animal back during transhumance orbits. The use of this structure as a mobile school was limited. The problem with the structure was that the iron props were heavy which could not be easily carried along during transhumance movements. Today, where they are in use, they are permanently anchored to the ground as semi-permanent structures made of canvass and iron props. This type of structure is mostly found in the northern states of the country.
Purpose Built Motorized Boat School.
This type of school is introduced to create more access to education for children of migrant fishermen. It is a school in motion that is powered by an engine. It picks children along the coastline and or creeks in the riverine areas from various locations every day. Teaching and learning goes on as the boat school moves. The boat school has a capacity of accommodating 50 pupils. This type of boat schools are meant for states in the south-south and south west of Nigeria.
The Mobile teacher school is used amongst the pastoral nomads in the northern states of Nigeria. This is a system where a migratory pastoral community moves with its teachers. This practice is sometimes supplemented with the provision of teachers by a receiving local government area where a pastoral group migrates from one local government area to another local government area. This type of strategy hardly works due to lack of commitment by local governments. This system operates fairly well in Adamawa where Shelleng and Numan local governments cater for a total movement group that with transhumance orbits between Wuro Yanka in Shelleng and Savannah in Numan local government area..
Stationary Schools:
Under the stationary strategy; regular schools (permanent strategies), semi-permanent and schools under tree shade are used.
Regular Schools
The regular school system is akin to the conventional school system where permanent structures are constructed for the nomadic pastoralists that have settled down permanently.
Semi-Permanent
Another strategy used is the constructoin of semi-permanent structures. This structure is used by nomadic pastoralists who practice split movements and are semi-sedentary. The structure is used at the homestead during the wet season grazing in the uplands whereas in the dry season locations along the river valleys, schools operate mostly under tree shades. Most of the times, the period of migration between the wet season grazing locations and the dry season grazing locations serve as a holiday time for schools. Teaching and learning resumes when nomadic pastoralists move back to the upland at the onset of the wet season.
CONCLUSION
As a way of conclusion, it is important to state some issues and others interesting features of the delivery system in the nomadic education programme. A flexible time-tabling system emerges after due dialogue and consultations between parents and teachers. This leads to conducive school opening hours for learning in the nomadic communities. This forms a major characteristic of most nomadic schools because of the central roles children play both in home chores and the occupational activities of the nomadic groups be it animal herding or fishing. Other than morning, schools could open either in the afternoons and/or in the evenings. One major area that still poses tremendous problem is how best to address the education of the total movement pastoral groups in northern Nigeria. Till date this group which practice total movement of all members of the clans and households have not been adequately catered for in the provision of education for nomadic groups in Nigeria especially the pastoral nomads.
Major impediment to this is lack of people willing to be trained as mobile teachers that could move together with the nomads during their migratory drifts so as to serve as teachers in the mobile schools.
Similarly, the lack of commitment and understanding from other stakeholders like the states and local governments to design a sustainable teacher supply scheme for nomads when they settle during inter state and inter local government migratory drifts has equally hampered the successful implementation of the programme.
Furthermore, the absence of reliable baseline data on the movement patterns of the highly mobile groups, their population and places of settlement after such migratory drifts have also not been very helpful in aiding the design of a viable mobile schools system for total movement groups amongst the pastoral nomads in the country.
Finally it is the contention of this paper that an education programme for nomadic groups which does not plan adequately for a particular segment of the nomadic pastoral group calls for some pragmatic measures in the areas of mobile collapsible school design, teacher recruitment, training and networking and collaborations amongst stakeholders/implementing government agencies and need for further baseline surveys to provide adequate and reliable data especially on the highly mobile pastoral nomadic groups to aid proper planning.
Reference
Tahir G. (1998) “Nomadic Education in Nigeria: Issues, Problems and Prospects” Journal of Nomadic Studies Volume 1 No. 1 pp 10-26.
Ezeomah C. (2000) The Educational Needs of Nomadic Pastoralists, Migrant Fishermen and Farmers. A paper presented at the Education of Disadvantaged people, Yola, June 2000.
Federal Government of Nigeria (1999) “Ensuring Access and Equity in Basic Education for Nomads in Nigeria” A presentation to the Association for Development of Education in Africa (ADEA).
NCNE (1996) “Guidelines on the Operation of Nomadic Education in Nigeria” Kaduna, Nigeria.
NCNE (1999) Improving the Quality of Tuition in Nomadic Schools: A Proposal submitted to the Education Tax Fund, Abuja, for support, January 1999.
NCNE (2001) Radio for Distance Learning Among the Nomadic Pastoralists and Migrant Fishermen in Nigeria. A proposal prepared by the National Commission for Nomadic Education, Kaduna Nigeria, October, 2001.
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